


late night ramen talks

by Squiped_Mew



Category: Pet (Anime 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Camping, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hayashi is best dad, Hiroki (Pet) Is A Bean, Hiroki is a literal sunshine, Introspection, M/M, Ramen, Satoru Ships It, Talking about your feelings, Tsukasa (Pet) Has Abandonment Issues, along with 1 normal panic, among other things, glad to see theres a few more fics since the last time i checked, just making some tags, this fandom is so small we gotta stick together, tsukasa has like 3 gay panics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:42:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23701777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squiped_Mew/pseuds/Squiped_Mew
Summary: And now, here they were. The four of them on the run from the Company, a strange little family that Tsukasa felt like he didn’t deserve to be part of at times, but sticking around anyways, because he knew none of them had anywhere to go then to each other. And here he was, eating dollar store ramen over a campfire in the middle of the night, feeling sorry for himself.The Tsukasa of a month ago would have laughed.Tsukasa freezes when crushing Mr. Hayashi, leaving him alive, and now he's got to live with what he almost did.
Relationships: Hiroki & Hayashi (Pet), Satoru & Hiroki (Pet), Tsukasa & Hayashi (Pet), Tsukasa & Hiroki (Pet), Tsukasa & Satoru (Pet), Tsukasa/Hiroki (Pet)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	late night ramen talks

**Author's Note:**

> Discord: https://discord.gg/7fGKDJ2
> 
> tumblr: https://squipedmew.tumblr.com/
> 
> youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PtaW8dTzCzlDfb76VRU9Q

As he watched the camping stove bubble above the flames of his fire, it occured to Tsukasa that he might want to tell the others about his chronic insomnia.

Granted, it was recent, and so was this whole ‘running away from the Company’ business, but still. He figured he should at least give Satoru out of everyone a heads up, since he kept leaving his tent at about three AM, seeing Tsukasa, still awake, and nearly dying of shock.

  
  


Camping out in the wilderness was all fine and good, but there was a small part of Tsukasa that wished he wasn’t here. The mood since they left had been peaceful and happy - that is to say, between Satoru, Hiroki, and Mr. Hayashi. 

  
  


One month.

It had been one month since Tsukasa had almost crushed the man he considered his father. One month since he had broken down in regretful sobs at Mr. Hayashi’s feet in those dark woods, shaking at what he had almost done, expecting to be turned away, only for Mr. Hayashi to apologize. To still be concerned for some reason.

It had been one month since he had gotten a full night’s sleep.

  
  


And now, here they were. The four of them on the run from the Company, a strange little family that Tsukasa felt like he didn’t deserve to be part of at times, but sticking around anyways, because he knew none of them had anywhere to go then to each other. And here he was, eating dollar store ramen over a campfire in the middle of the night, feeling sorry for himself. 

The Tsukasa of a month ago would have laughed. 

  
  


“You still up?” 

  
  


Well, there had been one constant throughout this god-awful series of self-implosions. Hiroki, bleary eyed and hair all mussed up, emerged from the tent they had been sharing. Tsukasa vaguely wondered why Hiroki was still up, but brushed it out of his mind. Hiroki smiled at him (he really didn’t deserve this man, ugh) and sat down, criss cross in the grass. He was wearing a sweatshirt that was a few sizes too big for him and - wait.

“Is that mine?” Tsukasa quietly asked, arching an eyebrow.

“You weren’t using it.” Hiroki shrugged, pushing a lock of hair behind his ear and there’s a soft squeezing in Tsukasa’s chest that he doesn’t really understand and maybe he doesn’t want to. “Can I have some?”

“What - oh the ramen?” Mind in other places, Tsukasa snapped back to reality, fishing in his bag for one of the plastic bowls he carried on himself. “Yeah. I wasn’t really going to eat it anyways, I just like the - uh - the smell.” 

“Huh.” Hiroki’s voice suggests he thinks that’s strange, but doesn’t say anything, instead just digging into the slightly undercooked noodles. “Why are you up?” He asked, mouth full.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Granted, Hiroki at the very least has some idea of his tumultuous sleep schedule, so he doesn’t really get why Hiroki’s even asking him this. “Why are you up?” 

“I heard you get out of the tent, so I wanted to make sure you were okay. And I smelled food, and you know I can never turn down a midnight snack.” That, for the most part, was true, but there was something else underneath Hiroki’s words. A question.

When Hiroki caught Tsukasa staring, Tsukasa turned away. 

  
  


“You look like you want to ask me something.” Tsukasa remakred.

“I… I do.” Hiroki replied, letting strands of hair fall in front of his face. 

“Why aren’t you asking me then?”

“I don’t know if it’s an appropriate question.”

“Is there such a thing?” 

Hiroki laughed, but the sound faded quickly, Hiroki turning away to busy himself with doling out a copious amount of broth into his bowl. 

“...There are hardly any noodles in there.” 

“Well, I like the broth more.”

“It’s literally just some water with a bit of chicken flavor put in it.”

“Well, you made it, so that automatically makes it better.” Tsukasa is positive his face is a bright red, and he quickly turns to get himself some noodles as well, ones which he’s probably not going to eat anyways, but anything’s better then whatever’s going on here - 

  
  
  


“You know that night about a month ago? When Long brought you home?”

Tsukasa freezes, the noodles in his mouth turning sour. He does. It was the night he had almost - 

“...Did something happen between you and Mr Hayashi?” 

  
  


Tsukasa had to hand it to Hiroki. The guy was dense as a brick when it came to certain things, but sharp as a tack when it came to Tsukasa. His strange perceptiveness towards him and only him never failed to piss Tsukasa off. (Not really) 

“...What makes you say that?” Tsukasa retorted, hoping to dodge the question, eyes laser focused on the swirling golden broth in his plastic bowl. 

“Well… he said that was when he came back to Japan. And… you’ve been acting weird around him. Really quiet.” Hiroki shifts, so their shoulders are touching, a small gesture of comfort. “He gave you your peak, right? I thought you’d be really happy to see him again.”

Every word Hiroki says is like a bucket of cold water to the face, a wake-up call that this was reality and Hayashi was here, and he had messed it all up just by being Tsukasa - 

“Tsu?” A small hand lays itself over his own shaking palms, and Tsukasa finally looks up at Hiroki, whose eyes are filled with concern, and… something else. 

Affection? No, that was dumb. What reason would Hiroki have to give him more than the constant sun he gave everyone? They were just friends. Pretty close ones, but still. Hiroki gave his light to everyone - Tsukasa was just blinded by it at times. How someone so kind could still exist in this world. 

“You can tell me anything, you know.” And that was it, the last thing Tsukasa wanted to hear right now, the final shot through the heart. Because that was wrong, and he couldn’t, and he didn’t want to make it worse for everyone else. 

Something wet runs down his face, and it takes Tsukasa a moment to realize that he’s crying, if only a little bit. 

Tsukasa wasn’t a crier. And when he does, he never sobs. It’s always quiet. 

  
  


Hiroki’s eyes are full of concern. “Hey.” Tsukasa wipes his eyes, quickly, and gives Hiroki a watery smile, who doesn’t look convinced. “Did something happen?” He asks again, and this time, Tsukasa relents. 

“...I met up with Mr. Hayashi that night.”

Hiroki nods, like this wasn’t super surprising, and Tsukasa continues. “It didn’t go… great.”

“You were still laser focused on the company.” Tsukasa nods, and Hiroki sighs.

“He tried to tell me to run. And that what I was doing was wrong. And to be fair, I knew that, but at the time... “ Tsukasa runs a hand through his hair. It’s getting a bit longer. “I dunno. I got really mad. I was mad at him for leaving me, I guess. And then…” His throat constricts. “I guess he tried to change my memories.” 

“What?” Hiroki exclaims, brow crinkled in confusion. “Why?” 

“I guess he wanted me to think he hadn’t abandoned me or something.” Tsukasa replies, fiddling with his fingers. “He said I’d be happier. But all it did was just piss me off. And -”

  
  


_ The back door trick _ . “I entered his peak. I was... going to crush him.”

Hiroki inhales sharply, and Tsukasa doesn’t turn to see the horror painted all over his face. “I almost did. I got - I got really fucking close, but the whole time he kept screaming that I would crush myself in the process.” He swallows, and wow, is he going to cry again? That’d be really dumb. He’s already being dumb. “The whole time… he kept yelling out for  _ me _ .”

There’s a pause, where Tsukasa attempts to regain his composure. 

“That’s what snapped me out of it, I guess. I stopped, and - well, I don’t quite know what happened after that. It’s a bit of a blur.”

  
  
  


_ What he does remember is sobbing at Hayashi’s feet, snot and saline congealing all over his face in the humid summer air. The whole scene felt gross. Kind of pathetic.  _

_ Hayashi had leaned down, embracing Tsukasa for the first time in years.  _

_ “Thank you.” he had whispered. “You saved me. You saved yourself.” That had only made Tsukasa cry harder, pulling painfully at the roots of his own hair, sitting like that until Hayashi had left and Long had come to get him.  _

“I almost killed him, Hiroki.” Tsukasa breathes, and saying those words out loud was like exhaling a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I almost killed my peak giver.”

  
  
  


There’s a pause. 

The ramen doesn’t smell as good as it did earlier anymore. 

  
  
  


“But you didn’t.” 

Tsukasa looks up to see Hiroki staring intently at him. “W-what?” He replies, confused. 

“You didn’t crush him.” Hiroki replied again, tone more intense. “You stopped.” 

“But I - I almost did.”

“But you stopped.”   
  


“Hiroki, that  _ doesn’t  _ make it any better!” His shout echoes over the camp, birds taking flight at the sudden noise. “I could have - I could have crushed Mr. Hayashi, Hiroki. I was so  _ close _ , just a few seconds away, from doing that!” 

“But we’re here now!” Hiroki shouts back, and his tone is unusually angry. “We’re here, and he’s okay, and you’re okay! He asked you to come in the letter he left to Satoru, right?” Tsukasa pauses at that, and Hiroki plows on. “If he really didn’t care, he wouldn’t have asked you to come! He obviously didn’t want you staying at the Company, and he didn’t care that you almost crushed him, because you didn’t!” Hiroki takes a breath, and the scene is quiet. 

“You… you didn’t, Tsukasa.” he breathes, eyes boring into Tsukasa’s. “You stopped yourself. And that’s… good.” 

“Good.” The simple word lingers on Tsukasa’s tongue. “That’s good.”

“Yes!” The response from Hiroki almost comes out as a laugh. “You stopped! It’s - you cared enough to stop.”

  
  
  


_ I cared.  _

_ I cared enough to stop.  _

  
  


“...Tsu, you’re not a bad person.” Hiroki finally says after god knows how long. “I know you’d like to think that you’re one, but you’re not. And yeah,” He says, cutting Tsukasa’s rebuttal off. “What you did wasn’t cool. I get that. But… it’s okay. You turned back from that. And now, you can fix it.” He points to Hayashi’s tent. “You got a chance.”

  
  


Tsukasa blinks. 

  
  


_ I got… a chance.  _

_ I’m not… a bad person? _

  
  


Those two sentences burrowed their way into his mind, shaking the foundation from which his entire life had been built around. That he was rotten, through and through. 

He would never be better. The Company had told him so, and that’s why Hayashi had left.

But that wasn’t true anymore, was it?

  
  
  
  
  


Tsukasa inhaled. 

Exhaled. 

  
  


“You’ve got a weird way of making things seem simpler than they are.” Tsukasa mumbled, half a laugh, and half a cry. Hiroki smiled sadly at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“I know.” It’s an admission, but also a statement of reassurance. “Tsukasa… we’re going to be okay.”

  
  
  
  


And for the first time in years, Tsukasa believes it.

  
  
  
  


* * *

“Hey. Hey lovebirds. Wake up.” 

Tsukasa shoots up to see Satoru, who had been tapping his shoulder, Hiroki sprawled on top of him, snoring quietly. “Did you two fall asleep out here or something?” 

Ah. Right. The conversation they had. Tsukasa sits up, brushing Hiroki off of his chest, the other jolting awake. “Whuzgoinon-” He looks to Satoru, eyes bleary. “Hey Satoru. What time is it?”

“It’s almost six.” He extends a hand, and the two of them help themselves up. “Mr. Hayashi said he wanted to show us something.”

“Well, it had better be worth waking us up this early” Hiroki grumbles, and Tsukasa laughs a bit at that, the three of them walking over to the edge of the cliff they had been sleeping on, Hayashi waiting for them.

  
  


“Hey there.” he says, in his usual affable tone, but there’s a note of excitement concealed under it. “Sleep well?” 

“Nope.”

“Not at all.”

“I have a hard time sleeping in tents.” Hayashi rolls his eyes at Satoru’s last statement, and points out to the horizon. 

“The sun’s coming up really soon. You’ll see what I mean in a bit.” 

  
  


So the three of them make themselves comfortable, and wait.

  
  
  


They don’t have to wait long, because the sun crests over the horizon, and - 

  
  


“Oh.” The rays of light wash over a familiar landscape, the early morning dawn painting a rainbow over the valley. 

It was a beautiful valley, a clear river running right through it.

It was Hayashi’s peak.

“This place…” He turns to Hayashi. “Your peak actually exists?” Hayashi nods, grin wide. 

“Holy woah.” Satoru breathes, tone reverent. “It’s…”

“Really nice.” Hiroki finishes. “Why here though?”

Hayashi smiles again, leaning back. “It’s where I realized that my powers aren't destructive.” he says. “I hated them when I was a kid - but as I got older, I realized that I could do some actual good with them.”

And he turns to look at everyone. “Help kids like you.”

And that’s the statement that finally breaks everyone, Satoru starting to cry, Hiroki joining him soon after. 

And Tsukasa?

Well, he wasn’t really a crier. 

  
  


But even he can’t stop a tear from running down his face. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


The next time he goes inside his own peak, it looks almost the same, but with one small change. 

  
  


On the cliffside where you would start out, there were two bowls of bubbling cheap ramen, sitting next to each other on a picnic blanket. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I JUST WANT MY BOYS TO BE HAPPY AND THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I KNOW HOW 
> 
> im so excited for fish next year man it sucks the original manga got cancelled.
> 
> Leave Kudos if you enjoyed! (or don't, that's cool too)


End file.
